On May 17^th, Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University saw opening of the International Scientific and Technical Conference «Transportation Geotechnics and Geoecology» (TGG — 2017).

The ceremonial opening took place in the Assembly Hall of the university. Before the opening, there had been a two days workshop «Pressuremeter tests and design of foundations».

Acting Rector Prof. Lyudmila Blazhko delivered her speech to the participants. She pointed out, that the significance of the issues of the Conference was proved by a broad geography of its participants.

«The Conference «Transportation Geotechnics and Geoecology» has brought together researchers and experts from seventeen states. This is a very broad representation. Just so we understand, the forthcoming Saint-Petersburg International Economic Forum, which will be held in June, will be attended by members of 26 states. In some way, today’s Conference could be considered as a prologue to SPIEF — 2017.»

Prof. Blazko also pointed out, that our university has been taking the leading positions in the research sphere among other transport universities. It is also in the top 10 educational institutions which are most popular among Russian school graduates. The exchange of opinions and views on topical transport and transport engineering issues is certainly of great importance for the scientific community. On behalf of the Rector and on her own behalf she wished the participants a fruitful and successful work.

The Conference is devoted to 150^th anniversary of Alexander Liverovsky. The discussion will be attended by leading researchers and professors from Russia, Australia, Poland, The Czech Republic, India, Iran, Turkey, Japan, China, Ukraine, USA, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Uzbekistan, Belarus. Among the participants there are members of scientific organisations, such as International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), International Geosynthetics Society (IGS).

The agenda includes dwelling upon engineering and operation of railway formation, preventing geotechnical catastrophes, development of heavy-haul transportation, and others.

The Conference also includes section meetings.